The Skinny on GLP-1s

CLVG April 24, 2025 Meeting Transcript

Meeting Facilitator

• Roy Strasburger, CEO, StrasGlobal

CLVG Member Participants:

• Hal Adams, Senior Advisor, McKinsey & Co
• Laura Aufleger, President, On Cue
• Tracey Hughes, CEO, Wallis Co.
• Greg Parker, Executive Chairman, Parker’s Kitchen
• Jonathan Polonsky, CEO, Plaid Pantry
• Don Rhodes, President/CEO, The Convenience Group, LLC
• Kevin Smartt, CEO, TXB Stores

Presenter

• Sherry Frey, VP Total Wellness, NielsenIQ

Guests

• James Hunt, SVP Retail, NielsenIQ
• Richard Poye, COO, Food Trends Think Tank
• Donnie Rhodes, Director of Business Development, The Convenience Group, LLC
• Chris Stephenson, Category Manager, OnCue
• Joris van Brussel, CEO, Shell Mobility and Convenience

Vision Group Network Founders

• Myra Kressner, Founder, Kressner Strategy Group
• Eva Strasburger, President, StrasGlobal
• Roy Strasburger, CEO, StrasGlobal

Meeting:

Roy Strasburger:

Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the Convenience Leaders Vision Group meeting. We have a really good topic today. Sherry Frey from Nielsen IQ is our guest speaker. I’ll introduce her more in a few minutes, but I think we’re going to have a very good conversation on GLP-1 drugs, their effect on the industry, and the overall aspect of wellness. We’ll get into that in just a moment.

First things first, I’ve got a few housekeeping points. I want to remind everybody about the antitrust statement and publication acknowledgement that you all signed [Publication & Antitrust Statement Shown on Screen]. This is the document that everybody signed when they either joined or filled out their membership form. We are recording today. The transcript will be published as part of our Vision Report. And I want to remind you, you do have the opportunity to declare that something is off the record, either before you say it or after you say it, if you realize that you said something that should not be on the record. Just please let us know if that happens and if you’d like to have something taken off the record.

The second part of the statement is that we have a very strong antitrust policy. A lot of us, or a lot of you, compete with each other. We will not allow any kind of conversation that deals with pricing, market segmentation, or anything that could be considered to violate any of the anticompetitive rules or laws. If we do hear that kind of statement, we will ask you to stop. If you do not stop, then we will semi-politely kick you out of the meeting. Please respect the antitrust policy.

We’re going to have a good group today and a good conversation. If you would, during the meeting please keep your microphones on mute so we don’t have any ambient noise in the background while someone is speaking. If you would like to say something, please use the raise hand icon that is located at the top of your screen so that we can try to make sure everybody gets involved and has a chance to say something.

Please feel free to communicate as much as possible, because this is all about conversation, about having a discussion amongst ourselves so that we can find out ideas, views, and perspectives.

If you do need to leave for a few minutes, you can turn your camera off and turn it back on when you come back to the meeting. If you need to leave early, just drop us a note in the chat.

In regard to the chat, we would like to try to keep as much conversation on screen and verbal as possible for the transcript that will come out of this meeting, but if you do put anything into the chat, we will try to incorporate that as much as possible. I believe that that is all of our housekeeping points for today.

What I’d like to do now is go back to our last meeting for just a second. During that meeting we had a discussion about AI and AI strategies, about how they will help your business and make your business more efficient. Our guest presenter was Greg Buzek from the company called IHL Group which specializes in automation and some AI strategies. I just want to ask if anybody had any further thoughts about AI, in using it in your business, or whether you’ve had any revelations recently that you might want to share with the group. Any ideas or discussions based upon that last conversation? Is anybody actually using this generation of AI in trying to help with the back-office solutions or pricing or any type of efficiency in the office? Okay, Eva.

Eva Strasburger:

Kevin, I have a question for you. Aren’t you getting more into the tech side? Is that a separate company or is that to support your stores? What are you seeing? Because you’re quite advanced on the AI side. You weren’t here at the last meeting, so we missed your voice.

Kevin Smartt:

AI We definitely have done some things in our company with AI. We’ve done the AI camera vision in the stores, so we’ve had that kind of in a pilot and a test for well over two years really. There are some strong merits to doing it. Cost is still a prohibitor for us in rolling that out chainwide, even though there’s a lot of great benefits to it, it’s still costly. We’ve been going back and forth for some time within this company over it. We’ve also done AI fuel pricing for probably the past year, so we’ve had some experience around that. Then, we’re looking at several different kinds of internal AI for admin meeting kinds of stuff for the whole company so we’re universal on it.

Then, I have done some things personally, or through our parent company, for investments in a couple of different technology type businesses. I’ve had some experience around that, and some of that dips into our industry as well.

Eva Strasburger:

Is there anything new out there you think we should all be looking at and keeping our eye on for the next great thing to help the stores?

Kevin Smartt:

Well, I do think the first thing I mentioned is if they can figure out how to lower the per store cost, I do think AI camera technology is pretty interesting. There’s a lot of great opportunities for that. There’s safety, there’s just guest enhancement from customer service opportunities there. There’s product and stock opportunities with that product.

Truthfully, probably not that it helps you as much, but there’s up to the minute demographic information that you can gather with AI like that. When you really start thinking about heat mapping and how you lay out a store, you can tell if a store is appealing to a female demographic or a male demographic, and it’s specifically where the females are shopping, it’s specifically where the males are shopping in the store.

There’s just a lot of interesting things there. I think the challenge as a small company is just data overload. Anytime we’re looking at it, it’s truly about what’s actionable data for us and what’s meaningful data? What are we going to have a return on investment on?

It’s not that we’re not interested in the other aspects, it’s just hard as a smaller company to mine and to get all the value out of the data that’s available. I do think there’s a lot of merit there. I’m still interested to really see long-term how AI competes against AI when we’re talking about pricing. Nobody really has that answer. Everybody acknowledges that AI is smart enough to continue to evolve around that, but nobody can readily answer what the outcome is if it’s AI competing against AI on pricing models.

PricingI do think there’s probably an opportunity around daypart strategies of moving prices. I know in the news and the media, it got some bad publicity in the QSR market, but I do think there’s some probably pretty smart strategic opportunities there for us as retailers to look at: how do we use dynamic AI pricing for inside the store pricing models.

I think for us as an industry, I don’t know that we have found it yet, but we keep talking about it. I think the big thing we need to be focused on is how do we gain more efficiency out of AI, right? Where can we gain efficiency? Labor models? Is it helping in just any way we can extract efficiencies and potentially lower our cost to operate?

Roy Strasburger:

Well, excellent. Greg, you have some comments?

Greg Parker:

Foodservice Yes. I’ve just asked Scott [Smith – Sr. Director of IT at Parkers and CTVG member] to come in here. He can talk about some of the things we’re doing. We started using AI seven years ago in our kitchens. We started something that we call Smart Kitchen. With Smart Kitchen we had these 42-inch TV screens in all of our kitchens. What we were trying to do is to figure out how we were having just-in-time food in our stores.

Of course we have all the data because everything is touch screen when you order it. When they pay for it we know it is paid for at the POS. You’re able to keep up with what was ordered and what was sold. What we wanted to do is have what was produced. We started looking at data based on what the sales are of that store, but we were looking at traffic, we were looking at weather. We were looking at all these disparate data sources.

We’ve gotten to the point now, especially with fried food, the quicker from the time that it’s cooked to the time that it’s eaten, when you bite to the chicken tender and it’s crispy on the outside and hot and moist and succulent on the inside, the better it’s going to taste.

That’s the reason that I started this big push to do it. Kevin, you know about this being in the study group. We started doing it. We’re at about 94, 95% accuracy now, so that we can say in the next 15 minutes we’re going to sell 28 chicken tenders. It allows us to have just-in-time food. Scott’s coming in here. Scott is head of our technology department. Scott, can you tell them what we’re using AI for now in the company and what you see in the near future?

Scott Smith:

Sure. We’re using AI currently for our Smart Kitchen application. Smart Kitchen is our food forecasting software that we built in-house. We’re running that through machine learning and artificial intelligence. It is building out those forecasts for us.

While we have started using different AI models, we’re using ChatGPT’s I think it’s like 3.0 right now. We’re also using Claude, and then there’s another one that we’re mixing together with Azure. That’s what we’re mainly using AI for. The other part would be for our fuel forecasting and delivery software. Those are the main two.

Greg Parker:

Data Analysis All right. The other thing is that I think that where AI is going to be a huge benefit to our industry is with business intelligence (“BI”) analytics.

We have a BI department now, so what can business intelligence do to help marketing? What can business intelligence do to help maintenance? We know that in the future we’re going to be able to be able to do this using machine learning rather than having an actual analyst.

Scott Smith:

Yes. Our BI department is fantastic. I think where we see things going with that is that we have them analyzing the data and building reports for us. Future-wise we’d like Greg to be able to drive down the road, ask a question about store sales for a new store, and have it give him all of the answers back instead of having to wait for a report to come out. Reports are great, but you have to look at a lot of data. Having the intelligence come to you and give you that data is where we want to go. Just makes it a little bit more seamless and fast.

Greg Parker:

Thank you.

Scott Smith:

You got it.

Greg Parker:

One of the things we were talking about today and looking at: we’re opening all these different markets, Augusta, Columbia, Myrtle Beach, Statesboro, Savannah, Charleston, Jacksonville. All stores are not created equally, all markets are not created equally. I’m wanting to know what the return on capital employed is by region. As we’re doing site forecasting, I want to know [these things]. The thing that I’ve learned is that Myrtle Beach, the average age is 47. Well, in Savannah and Charleston, the average age is like 36.

We know as people get older, they consume less. My gut is, and I don’t know this because we don’t have the data yet, is that our average number of transactions and our average market basket is going to be lower when demographics are higher. What we want to be able to do is exactly what Scott’s talking about. We can do it now longhand with an analyst who’s working on this stuff, but we want to be able to do it in shorthand. That way, it’ll point us in the direction of where we need to be going to build to have a higher return on capital employed.

Eva Strasburger:

That’s going to pull us into our presentation of course about how GLP-1 drugs are going to affect those baskets across different demographics.

Roy Strasburger:

Yes. Greg, thank you, and give Scott our appreciation for jumping in there. It’s always good to hear from him. Anybody else have any comments on AI in the retail business?

Okay. Before we move into our presentation, I’d like to recognize some of our guests that we have on the call today. He’s not a guest, but Hal Adams just joined us a few minutes ago. Hal, good afternoon. Glad to have you with us.

The first person I’d like to introduce is Richard Poye. Richard is the CEO of Food Trends Think Tank. He is also the facilitator of our Convenience Foodservice Vision Group. We’re really glad to have Richard with us today. Richard, if you’d give us a wave. Great to see you.

I’d like to also introduce Chris Stevenson. Chris is from OnCue and works with Laura. We’re very excited about having you with us today, Chris. Thank you very much for joining us.

Chris Stevenson:

Thanks for having me.

Roy Strasburger:

Last, but not least, Joris Van Brussel who is with Shell Retail. Joris is joining us since Barbara Stoyko was not able to make it today. Joris has been very kind to come in her stead. Thank you very much, Joris, for being with us.

All right. To get into our presentation, one of the big impacts that I think we’re going to be seeing in convenience retailing, as well as other grocery retailing, is the effect of GLP-1 drugs that originally were developed for treating diabetes. They’re now being used as weight loss drugs.

Our presenter today is going to talk to us about the drugs, the impact that they have on retailing in general, and, also, some of the things that are happening in the wellness area. I think that it’ll be a very interesting and enlightening conversation. And we do want to make it a conversation after the presentation is over.

One of the things I think is going to be really interesting about this impact on our industry is that many times, outside influences, specifically in buying habits, tend to be very trendy.

Whether it’s about wellness or specific types of products or ingredients, those trends come and go. One of the really big motivators in using these GLP-1 drugs is the goal of people wanting to lose weight and for them to feel better about themselves, theoretically, without having to do any work. It’s the ideal way of people trying to lose weight and to become the people that they want to become. It’s the motivation and the motivating factor that I think is maybe much more enduring than what we’ve seen in the past.

To talk to us about that today we have Sherry Frey. Sherry is with NIQ, NielsenIQ. She has spent three decades in her role in the industry and is currently in the role of vice president of total wellness at NielsenIQ. Her background is in market research, innovation, and consulting. She has worked with clients across the fresh, CPG, and wellness industries, providing forward-thinking insights combined with practical strategies. She’s spoken at many national and international events. She is a resource on topics related to consumer health, wellness, and environmental issues.

Sherry’s views on health and wellness span beyond personal health and wellness, encompassing how we collectively think about the health of the planet. We’re very excited to have her with us today. Sherry, I’m going to turn the stage over to you, so welcome Sherry Frey.

Sherry Frey:

[Slide #1 – Intro Slide – Understanding GLP-1] Sounds good. Thanks, Roy. I probably should have said, don’t read my bio. Just say she’s a data nerd and she’s going to show you a lot of data and give you some perspective today.

[Slide #2 – Agenda] It’s great to see all of you. I’m going to talk, as Roy said, around what we’re seeing in terms of the GLP-1 space, and then also just some emerging areas that are occurring around wellness that are obviously going to be impacting the c-store categories.

I think the big takeaway that I’ll tell you really is that the GLP-1s are a big piece, but they are just a piece of a catalyzing moment that we have right now, especially in the U.S., around how people are thinking about, in particular, what they’re eating and how they’re looking at that.

[Slide #3 – Multiple News Clips Collage] Now, it is small today in terms of the overall size. I’m going to give you some perspective on what it looks like today and what it’s going to look like in the future, but I think, as you all know, this is the topic that we cannot go a single day without seeing some news, some headline, etc.

[Slide #4 – The Market is large – Triangle – 260M] Just by way of backstory and framing this up, because this’ll give a bit of a perspective about what is the real future opportunity here, there is a large addressable market in the U.S. for type 2 diabetes, obesity, and even consumers that would be considered overweight. Just that market alone is very big.

[Slide #5 – Treatment and management has shifted] We actually measure from a consumer standpoint. I’m going to show you a variety of ways that we’re looking at obese and overweight households. We’re also looking at households that are on GLP-1s. We’re also, quite frankly, looking at medical records completely de-identified and completely HIPAA-compliant.

Consumer Behavior Just in general, we’ve seen a shift since 2016 of consumers. At the top, it’s always diet and exercise in terms of how they’re trying to manage this, but we’ve seen that decrease, and we’ve seen an increase in prescription and prescription medication. Part of this is, of course, because there’s a high level of interest from a consumer standpoint.

[Slide #6 – The GLP-1 Players] When we say GLP-1, there’s a variety, and I’m sure many of you are familiar with this, but there’s a variety of drugs. We kind of all say Ozempic, it’s kind of like the Kleenex of the GLP-1’s, but really there’s a variety of drugs that are available. I think you can see the mechanisms. There’s kind of two primary mechanisms, semaglutides and tirzepatides, in terms of what is the active ingredient, and then how they are used. Some of them, most of them are injections. Most of them are weekly. There’s a couple oral applications.

What’s been fascinating over the last year and a half is this explosion. Because of the shortages, there was an explosion of compounding pharmacies. Think about it. You probably saw this, as everyone from Hims and Hers and Weight Watchers, everyone had a compound. Now, the shortage is supposedly done, so the FDA has ordered the compounding pharmacies to stop. But, there’s been some kind of shifting that the compounding pharmacies are doing in terms of saying, “Well, we’re kind of formulating this way or it’s slightly different this way.” It will be interesting as we watch this.

Data Analysis The data I’m going to show you today, part of what we’ve seen in terms of some of the changes has been because we saw a doubling of people that were on the compounds in the last year. We saw Zepbound, which was just approved in 2023, come and really grow in terms of share. Really, Ozempic has the biggest share overall.

Now what’s coming down the pike, more drugs, more effective drugs, different mechanisms in terms of more orals, there will be injections where you only inject once a month. You’re also seeing the pharmaceutical companies doing research and getting these drugs approved for other conditions, cardiovascular or sleep apnea.

Also, a focus on reducing the side effects. I’m going to talk quite a bit about the side effects today because there are opportunities we think for the c-store channel, but also this is the element that really is for many of the consumers a deterrent in terms of do they want to or not want to be on a GLP-1 drug?

[Slide #7 How Effective are GLP-1 Agonists] The big picture here is that this is a game changer. The effectiveness of the semaglutides and tirzepatides, it is at the level of bariatric surgery- so very effective. But the big question is the quality of the weight loss.

[Slide #8 – A Deeper Dive] By the way, also, these drugs don’t work for everyone. You’ve seen and probably heard anecdotally stories around people who say, “I started this drug, then I went over to this drug.” It doesn’t necessarily mean that the GLP-1s will work for everyone.

The other piece, again, is there are side effects. We are seeing pretty consistently nausea, diarrhea, constipation. Not all consumers, and not the entire time they’re on the GLP-1. They do make some food choices that they’ve learned over time that actually can improve whether they have as much of a challenge or not.

Consumer Behavior I will tell you what’s been interesting for us as we have watched this data over the last two and a half years, we watched this consumer change and watched the conversation change. If you can even think about it, maybe even anecdotally for yourself, a year ago no one would say that they were on a weight loss drug. Now for people, it’s very destigmatized. People talk about being on weight loss drugs. They’re sharing more information. In fact, I would tell you that that is probably one of the fascinating things we’ve seen is the communities, whether it’s on Reddit or whether it’s on social media, that have populated around this topic.

But it has also allowed more people to talk about the side effects that they have. One of the ones that we’re actually seeing emerge more and more as part of that is alopecia, which is hair loss. That is a big challenge for many consumers.

[Slide #9 – What we Know Today] The big, big takeaway for you is probably there’s a whole new ball game here, but it’s really that third bucket. We know that people lose a great amount of weight, but 40% of the people on GLP-1’s can lose lean muscle mass versus just traditional weight loss is about 25%.

There are a lot of side effects. The big challenge is, and this is the thing that has been learned, that we’ve seen in the change of conversation. If you are not eating protein, and a lot of protein, if you are not working out, lifting weights, strength training, not just cardio, the reality is you are losing that lean muscle mass. If you go off the drug, and we are seeing cycling, if you go off the drug and you gain the weight back, you are gaining fat on top of lost muscle. So you’re starting at a detriment if you cycle on these drugs.

[Slide #10 – Our Approach to tracking GLP-1 Shopper] There’s some other things I’ll talk a little bit about in terms of the adoption and the access, and that sort of thing. We’re tracking this, as I mentioned. We’re looking at GLP-1 shoppers when they started, because really that’s been the fascinating thing – the consumer has changed over time.

We’re also looking at if they’re on a GLP-1 for weight loss or for diabetes, because of course behaviors are different. Then, as I mentioned, we’re also looking at their medical records.

Data Analysis [Slide #11 – Varying consumer needs states] Here’s the big shifts that we’ve seen just even in the last eight months, and that is – historically, people that were on GLP-1 for diabetes were older. They were 70 plus. We’ve seen growth in the consumers, 58% that are 55 to 74 that are on a GLP-1 for diabetes.

What’s happening here is, these are people, Gen Xers – and boomers, I guess – who were borderline pre-diabetic, where this isn’t something that they can get. This is our hypothesis, I should say: they can get [treatment] paid for through insurance. So they’re actually putting it down as diabetes.

The GLP-1 for the weight loss consumer, we’ve seen it is pretty much across the board, the addressable market is across the board. The consumer on the GLP-1 tends to have families, children under the age of six, 17, higher income. What was really interesting, again, over the last eight months, is we’ve seen younger consumers with younger children making less. A lot of that is driven, of course, by the fact that the compounded pharmacies, just because of the [lower] price point, opened up access to more consumers. And so, will that shift back when these compounds go away is the big question.

Consumer Behavior [Slide #12 – A view into the GLP-1 user journey] Now, oftentimes you will hear in the media, “people have stopped eating this or they’ve stopped eating that.” I think one of the most important pieces I want to share with you today is that it really changes over time. So this is their food and beverage consumption. And you can see these are GLP-1. That light blue is GLP-1 weight loss users compared to non-users.

And we took a look at the people that had been on it seven to 11 months and what you can see is there is a period actually where they really eat more in terms of buying more, coming into the store. Now this is total XAOC (“eXtended All Outlets Combined”). It includes convenience, it includes all channels. I’m going to just give you a little bit of a deep dive into what’s happening in the c-store. But what’s happening is early on, especially when they don’t feel good, they are tending not to go out to eat. They’re eating more at home. And again, these are people that may not want to necessarily cook for their family and so they’re also doing more prepared meals at home. And then you can see there’s a dip and then there’s a bit of a shift in terms of this level setting and settling out.

Note – XAOC: used by Nielsen to summarize multi-channel markets. It aggregates all national cross-outlet market data.

[Slide #13 – GLP-1 shopper reported behavior changes] Now, think about what people say … and I’m going to show you the say versus the do on this. People that are on GLP-1 say, “I’m planning to eat less. I’m eating more meals, smaller meals. I’m not snacking as much. I’m drinking less.” They definitely want to eat more. You can see here at the top that they are buying more produce, chicken. They’re also really trying to get their protein in and they say that they’re eating less salty snacks and sweets and sugary soft drinks. But I’ll tell you there’s a little bit of a nuance to that and, we think, some interesting opportunities for the c-store channel.

[Slide #14- Behavior shifts often counter] This is a look at the medical record data. And so, with the medical records we can pinpoint to the start date of when the people were on the GLP-1. So how did they behave before they went on the GLP-1 and how did they behave after?

I think the fascinating thing for us has been that people have actually tended to be higher diet soda drinkers prior to going on the GLP-1 and then, when we aggregated them to the start date, we actually saw that they drank more zero drinks…Coke Zero, Sprite Zero, etc. And so there’s a big question, and we’re in the middle of an analysis right now on this, which is, is this a soda situation or is this a sweetener situation? And so we’re in the process right now of evaluating sweeteners. Artificial sweeteners versus natural sweeteners across the store to see if this is a unique phenomena that we’re just seeing in this category or is it something else?

[Slide #15 – GLP-1 weight loss shoppers] Now, the reality is that we do know, and over time this has changed. So very early on, two years ago when we started looking at this, we didn’t see people eat healthier. It was truly a free-for-all. We just saw people just eating whatever they wanted. Over the last two years we’ve seen shifts and really the biggest shifts are that you can see an intentionality in what people are eating. Now there are things around clean label, there are things about artificial ingredients that you can see here. Clearly energy, muscle health – those are areas that these consumers are very interested in. They’re also very concerned about their microbiome for those of them that are having digestive issues. And they’re really pro-protein and they are reducing their amount of carbohydrates, so they’re focusing on less carbs, carb-free, etc. So again, it gives you a bit of a perspective of who this consumer is. One thing I heard recently, and I thought it was really powerful, which is when I’m eating less, every bite really counts. It doesn’t necessarily mean I’m only going to eat healthy.

[Slide #16 – Categories of interest] And to that end, we wanted to share with you where we think there’s really interesting opportunities for the c-store channel. So first of all, up there on the upper left, the four areas, protein, hydration, fiber and gut health and macro micronutrients. These are, I would say, the holy grail when it comes to these consumers. And in particular, protein is very front and center for them. As I mentioned earlier, with that muscle mass loss and the concerns that they have, the number one conversation that you will see on social media or on Reddit for these consumers is how do I get enough protein, especially when I’m not hungry and I don’t want to eat? And so we’re seeing some interesting [things]. This is data again, on the left-hand side. This is the total channel for categories that we thought might be interesting for you and I’ll talk on the right-hand side shortly.

So we do see growth. They’re also very thirsty. They’re looking for hydration. They’re also looking to circumvent constipation. Hydration powders, sports drinks, especially low calorie, sugar-free. There are many of these consumers that are tired. These categories I’ve listed over on the left, this is where we’re seeing outsized growth with these GLP-1 weight loss users versus what we’re seeing in our total panel. So energy drinks, coffee…they’re tired in some cases depending on where they are in their journey, they’re lethargic. They’re looking for protein, high protein drinks. We’re seeing this in a lot of the specific brands…beverages, water, sparkling water, still water, soft drinks, tea. They also are looking for protein outside of just regular protein. Now I will tell you in the [grocery] stores their meat sales, fresh meat, frozen meat, are really high. But they’re also looking for non-frozen or fresh protein. So dairy, cottage cheese is really big. We’ve seen outsized growth there. Yogurt, but low fat, eggs, beans, canned beans.

One of the areas that we think would be interesting in the c-store channel is they’re looking for high protein prepared meals. And in particular, one of the areas that’s gone gangbusters for this group is rotisserie chicken. And again, if you think about “I’m not as excited about cooking, I don’t feel that good.” Having something that’s prepared for them, but they are very concerned about fat. And the reason they’re concerned about fat is because it can impact their digestion. Higher fat products- fried chicken- for them that can actually set off constipation and diarrhea. It can really stimulate the side effects. Whereas they are looking for high protein, low fat options. Meat snacks. I know you’ve all probably seen that in your data as well. They’re also focused on fruits, vegetables, dried fruits, candy, gum, and mints.

Early on we saw this in the data and we couldn’t figure out what was going on. And we actually saw three things that we couldn’t figure out. This is two years ago when we started looking at this data. Their candy, gum, and mint sales were up, their deodorant sales were up and their perfume sales were up. And we have since learned through all of this that there is for some of these consumers a scent and an odor. And so things like perfume, deodorant, etc. Candy, gum and mints, they’re looking for again with that hydration element of keeping their mouth moisturized and then for a fresh breath.

But also the other piece is if you look at conversations again around these consumers, the conversations that they’re having, they’re not necessarily saying, “I don’t ever want to eat candy.” In fact, you follow Reddit trails and they’ll say, “We’re eating Skittles,” or, “We’re eating gummies, but I don’t eat the whole bag anymore. I still have those indulgences.” Which I think one of those areas you often hear isn’t necessarily the case. They also are buying personal care. Many of these personal care products. When we look at them on the right…this is just c-store data. And so the first column is how did these GLP-1 shoppers look versus our total panel prior to going on and then how do they look in the latest 52 weeks? And you can see they are pulling back on some indulgences. Things like donuts, sweet goods, etc. They’re buying more though.

One of the areas we are watching…alcohol is an interesting one. When we dig into alcohol specifically and we look at single-person households, we definitely see their alcohol consumption goes down. When we look at two-person households where one person is on the GLP-1, we see their alcohol consumption go up in terms of their purchasing. And that is because they’re not going out as much. And so if I’m living with you and you’re on a GLP-1, I may want to drink more, have a bottle of wine. And so there’s that nuance of this household as well that we think is a critical part of the conversation.

[Slide 17 – Pathways] Clicking into how’s the industry responding? We’ve seen an explosion of products across supplements and we’ve seen brands and companies that have formulated differently or they have just changed their marketing around the protein levels, fiber. I would say probably the best way we’ve seen in terms of thinking about this is there is a before people go on a GLP-1. And remember there are so many people that are scared of the GLP-1s. They’re nervous about hearing that people rebound and gain their weight back. They’re nervous about the side effects and the cost is high. So there’s an addressable market of people that are interested in a GLP-1 but not going to go on it. There’s also this idea of companion products. So wherever they are in their journey, if they’re maybe early on and having more of the digestive issues or as they’re just in that maintenance phase. And then also off-boarding. So [there are opportunities] as they come off or come down off of the GLP-1.

[Slide #18 – Current patient barriers] As you’re thinking about this for your business, I think a couple of things stand out. So one, we know cost is prohibiting many consumers. And in fact, when you think about the consumer that I mentioned who is on the GLP-1, if it’s not being covered by insurance as in many cases [it’s expensive]. And in fact you’ve seen probably Eli Lilly is offering direct-to-consumers now. Now it’s not a thousand dollars a month, it’s $399 to $650. There are quite a few things that are in play in terms of access and availability. Of course, as I mentioned, the compounding pharmacies going away is going to have an impact. And then the other reality is there is quite frankly going to be cycling. So you’ve got an addressable market of consumers who are interested in the GLP-1 and then you have consumers who are saying, “I’m probably not going to stay on it. I’m on it, but I’m probably not going to stay on it.”

And the reasons are it’s expensive, the side effects, the difficulty. And we’ve seen this one actually really pop up in the last six months – difficulty to get drugs. They’re trying something different. And there are consumers who have said, “I’m successful. I don’t need to stay on the GLP-1.”

[Slide #19 – Takeaways] From your standpoint, a lot of people will say to us, “Well, this isn’t proven. Can we trust this?” Well, if you look at Trulicity and some of the other drugs, they have been on the market for a long time. So their mechanisms are fairly well understood. And as we continue to see research around some of these other cardiovascular or central nervous system helping ailments, you’ll continue to see support around the GLP-1s, you’ll also see more ability for them to be paid for through insurance. There’s going to be changes, of course, in the regulatory environment.

Strategy We just think now’s the time. In terms of thinking about how do you reach this consumer differently in your stores. Now, one thing I would say, and probably most of you are doing this, is really looking at data for your market. The markets that your stores are in, in terms of GLP-1 prescriptions. There are markets in this country that are much heavier in terms of penetration of prescriptions. Now that doesn’t necessarily always track the compound so that’ll be a nuance that we all are going to figure out going forward. But really understanding how prevalent this is in your market today versus if you’re in a market where we just don’t see the heavy level of GLP-1 consumption or usage yet.

[Slide #20 – With an increased attention] The reason I said at the beginning, that this is a catalyzing moment in time, is that what’s happening is the GLP-1 conversation, in particular around things like fiber and protein, is converging right now with this make America healthy conversation around food additives and ultra-processed foods. And so many of you are probably familiar with this, but there is what’s called the NOVA (a framework for grouping edible substances) definition of ultra- processed foods. It’s up there on the left-hand side of the screen. And that came out of Brazil about 10 years ago, researchers from Brazil. When you use the NOVA definition, that pretty much says about 78% of the store is ultra processed. We’ve been looking at this a bit differently, which is the definition on the right-hand side of the screen, adding in a lens of nutrition, adding in the lens of processing and additives. What we’re doing here on the right is the research that’s being done right now in Denmark and with Novo Nordisk Foundation around how do we get more clarity of defining truly what ultra-processed foods are.

But the reality is we know consumers don’t totally know how to define [ultra processed foods]. We as an industry don’t know completely how to define them. But we know consumers are saying, “I’m trying to eat healthier. I think it’s better for me if I don’t eat as much processed foods.” And you take this idea of where do we heavily consume ultra-processed foods versus where do we not?

[Slide #21 – Ultra-Processed sales] And this is a map looking at per capita consumption of ultra-processed foods. And so you can see again…and this is exactly, by the way, how you should be thinking about your markets. I would be looking at GLP-1 prescriptions in my markets. I would be tracking all of these details. This is going to continue to be interesting. California issued an executive order saying that they’re going to ban ultra-processed foods. Of course, there’s not a great definition there. There’s new certifications that just came out in March. A certifying organization, which is actually the former non-GMO (genetically modified organism) organization that is now launching the non-UPF (ultra-process food) certification. Again, how they’re defining them? Big question.

[Slide #22 – The consumer is reactionary] The other piece, thinking about this intentionality and paying attention from a consumer standpoint, is obviously what’s been happening to the food additives. So Tuesday (April 22) we had the banning of synthetic food additives and food colors. In January, if you remember, Red Dye 3 was banned. And what we found was on the left-hand side on the bottom of the screen, we actually found in that red there that identifies [it]…I was surprised quite frankly at this. We saw right after the ban, a drop in products that had Red Dye 3. Now there’s only about 5,000 items across the whole product universe and about 1200, 1300 of those are in the c-store channel. But it was fascinating to see that consumers really were paying attention, flipping over labels looking at products. We actually saw Red Dye 40 products decline just as much as Red Dye 3. But we didn’t necessarily, on the right-hand side, see that drop as much in the c-store channel. And what that says is when people are maybe making their grocery trip, they’re a little more planful, maybe a little bit more intentional about the health decisions, whereas they’re maybe not necessarily, although there is a dip there, not necessarily [as thoughtful] when they’re in a c-store making an impulse selection. And these are the categories that are most impacted in your channel that are impacted by Red Dye 3.

[Slide #23 – Regulatory changes] So then Tuesday we had the synthetic additives. This will be bigger. And we put down here just for your frame of reference, the number of items. And so things like Yellow 5, Red 40, those will really impact the industry in terms of the number of items that are in the space. And in particular some of these even more so in the c-store channel. Now we’re also continuing to track some of these others. Many of you know that there were certain states that had different bans in addition to these red dyes that they had put up for proposal. Things like the propylparaben or the titanium dioxide. Again, many of these categories, if these bans [go through] — and I would say the legislation is moving quicker I think than any of us had anticipated with the new administration – does put some vulnerabilities in terms of the categories within the channel.

[Slide #24 – There is a growing conversation] And there is an emerging conversation around seed oils. If you would’ve asked me six months ago, I would’ve said, “Oh, this is just a very early adopter consumer that is looking at seed oils.” What we’ve really seen transition because of mega influencers like Mark Hyman and Joe Rogan and RFK Jr. is this really — I would not say exploding but emerging, rapidly emerging conversation around seed oils. And again, a challenge for our entire industry overall from our food products to our just processing in general.

[Slide #25 – We deliver the full view] So with that, I know I covered quite a bit. Not as quickly, probably, Roy as I promised I would. But I wanted to really open this up to have you ask anything you’d like. Things you are curious about. Things you’re maybe seeing differently.

Roy Strasburger:

Well first of all, Sherry, thank you very much for an excellent presentation. A lot of information. And I want to remind everyone that you will get a copy of the presentation and a transcript of Sherry’s context around it with the Vision Report when that comes out for you to use as a reference and to go back and see it again.

Also would like to take a brief moment. I saw James Hunt get online a moment ago. James is a colleague of Sherry’s at NIQ so I want to welcome him. And Donnie Rhodes, who’s one of our guest members today joined as well.

So we’re going to open up the conversation to questions, comments, and ideas for Sherry to join or answer. And I’m going to start off. Something you alluded to or you stated in your presentation was how the convenience store channel oftentimes is seen as a destination for luxury or indulgent items, typically based upon impulse sales. So we’re very, very good at putting things that are not necessarily good for you in front of people for them to purchase when they come in. Let’s put regulatory issues aside for a moment. But from a GLP-1 perspective, when people’s cravings have changed, do you have any perspective or idea on what’s going to happen to those impulse sales opportunities?

Sherry Frey:

We’re already seeing it overall. I would say though again, we’re not necessarily seeing that people are not eating frozen novelties, but it is that whole – every bite counts. So if I’m going to have something, I’m going to make sure that I really enjoy it. And they are watching fat. Fat is that thing again, that’s triggering the digestive issues for many of the consumers.

Roy Strasburger:

When it comes to impulse purchases and people buying what we might consider to be luxury or indulgent items, how is GLP- 1 going to have an impact on that, as we think further down the line?

Sherry Frey:

<< Consumer Behavior>> All right. I’m actually going to tell you something that we’re finding really interesting and then come back to this impulse. So one thing that is really fascinating for these consumers is they’re struggling, and this is why this whole community has blown up around supporting the consumers. They’re struggling to make themselves eat. Actually, for many of them, they’re having trouble putting as much food into their mouths because they’re just not hungry. And so you’ll see so many of the conversations are around meal planning. And so just the idea of impulse is going to change for the consumers because already they’re struggling with “how do I just get three meals in my stomach every day when I’m not hungry?”

One thing, we’ve seen more trips to the grocery store. They’re going more frequently. Part of that we know is because buying more fresh fruits and fresh vegetables, but also in terms of what they’re putting in the basket. And you can very clearly see they’re trying to have things in their freezer like the frozen meat products that are just raw frozen meat. Not any preparation so that they can have it at the ready.

So I think your question is so great because I think the idea of impulse is going to mean something very different for these consumers. And I think the impulses that they will have in the c-store are really going to be much more around what’s going to get them in the door, like the fact that they’re thirsty. We did some work a couple of years ago on diabetes and we were looking at the medical records. We could see people going into c-stores and buying beverages before they even had their first high A1C. We actually could see that they were having the side effects of diabetes in terms of thirst and dry mouth. Hydration is going to be one area to get the consumers in the store. It’s not necessarily that they are going to be buying all the categories that they may have previously purchased that would be more indulgent. But I also don’t want you to take away that they’re not still buying categories, but they’re just more intentional with that every bite.

Roy Strasburger:

Thank you. Kevin.

Kevin Smartt:

Sherry, thank you. This is a great category. We’ve been talking about it quite a bit in our company. And we’ve gathered data through different sources over the last several months trying to understand it better. So I have some reports and things that were provided to me that said that 12% of Americans at the end of ’24 were on a GLP-1 drug. I’m just curious with the cycling off and then cycling back on, are there projections of what the percentage is going to be at the end of this year, two years, three years, where we’re going to be with the cycle off cycle on effect? I was astounded to see 12% of Americans were already on a GLP-1. And then I think the big question, especially if you’re a retailer … It’s great to have the conversations, but it’d be really good to know what the major food and beverage manufacturers are thinking and strategizing because we’re at the mercy of selling the products we can get our hands on. And so if you look at the numbers of the top 10 food and beverage manufacturers at the end of last year, eight out of the 10 reported negative units, which tells you they’ve really been impacted by this. So they have to have a strategy around where they’re going. So do you have any information on that as well?

Sherry Frey:

Yes. So I would tell you a couple of things. Just looking at the large manufacturers. Some of the things we have seen, just in general, are shifts in terms of the consumer from just larger manufacturers. It’s not just GLP-1. So if you remember two years ago, many of the investors were saying, “Oh, it’s the GLP-1s. That’s what’s dropping the sales down.” It’s important to know that especially in the total store, like our total universe, these GLP-1 shoppers are actually really valuable. They’re coming back in the store, they’re spending more. There are some things that are happening that are underneath in terms of some of the major trends around food and beverage and some of the larger manufacturers that are much more tied to income and this bifurcating income that we are seeing in this country, more so than the GLP-1.

So I would say it’s not necessarily GLP-1s that are driving it down, but how are the major manufacturers thinking about this? I would say that now more than ever, we have seen more pre-competitive conversations around how do we with the make America healthy, with the GLP-1 challenges. Are there opportunities to think differently about products, ingredients, etc. Now, all of that, in this time of tariffs and confusion, is also putting a lot of scenario planning in front of the major manufacturers.

Your question around how many people [are on GLP-1 drugs]. Even in our survey from last September until February of this year – and this is just survey – we saw a 10-point jump in the number of people who said that they were on the GLP-1s. But at the same time, this cycling I think is going to be the most important thing we’re going to have to understand. Now we think the compounded pharmacy, the fact that they allowed so much more access to GLP-1s, gave people the opportunity, maybe a little liberty to say, “Well, let me just give it a whirl.” Like, “Oh, let me get it shipped to me.” And it was really easy because you could just do a telehealth visit. We anticipate some of this is going to go away in terms of the number of consumers that are on it.

That said, you see these new orals. Although, one thing about the orals is that there are concerns around efficacy. However, some of the orals that are in the market are actually looking like they’re going to be just as efficacious as the shots. But the other piece about the orals is, we’re not great as consumers at taking orals. Even women with birth control. And so, really there’s this adherence challenge. With orals, it feels like there’s a positive of, “I don’t have to give myself a shot.” The negative is, “I might forget to take the oral.” And so, that could be a consumer challenge.

So I don’t know. Kevin, there’s been some predictions of what the numbers are going to be and dramatic growth with the expanded access and affordability. 44% of the people on GLP-1s in the world are going to be on them in the U.S. It’ll be Americans that are on the GLP-1s. But then I think the other piece really worth watching is people’s adherence on how long they stay on the treatment. And I think we’ll see more. And I think we’re actually, frankly, already seeing it. More people who get on to lose weight for summer, lose a few pounds, get ready for summer season, that sort of thing. And so the cycling will just be a reality of the drug.

Roy Strasburger:

Okay, thank you. Richard, you’re next. Then we’re going to have Hal and Greg. So Richard, go ahead.

Richard Poye:

Sherry, thank you very much. So when you look at grocery versus convenience, when you think about shopping in grocery, you’re buying for the household. So, that’s a different impact than maybe people coming to buying for themselves or when your spouse is on the drug and you’re not. One other thing is just the health concerns. As far as that, are you seeing more of those issues come up? And is that maybe a flag because these people cycle on, cycle off, or maybe as they’ve lost all that muscle. Is that a bigger issue or is that going to amplify something?

Sherry Frey:

Yes. I love both of those questions. Thank you. So the first question really around the different consumer and the channel, and I will tell you a backstory. Last year I presented to a group of grocery retailers and I said, “We’re not seeing what the industry is talking about in terms of these people are eating less because we actually see most of them have families.” You know what I mean? So they’re actually not going out to eat as much. They’re eating more at home, they’re feeding their families and they’re super valuable consumers. And we had many grocery retailers say, “Yeah, we agree. We at first thought we didn’t want these folks, but they’re very valuable consumers.” That said, when we start isolating, we look at the single households, you can see more of the declines, and that’s where we see the two-person.

So your question on c-store opportunities versus just overall grocery, I do think it is going to be some of those areas – alcohol is a perfect example – where it is actually the other person in the house. So maybe if I’m on the GLP-1 and I go get groceries, I may not think about the alcohol, but the other person in the house – definitely an opportunity there. But I think you saw on that chart where I showed the color coding, you can see with the people that are on a GLP-1, that’s that individual and you can see that they’re not buying as much bakery. Yes, they’re shifting a bit of their tobacco consumption. C-stores are, I think, a really great way to isolate the behavior. You pretty much know that’s that one person on the GLP-1. You had a second question. The second question was on cycling, I think, right?

HealthAre you talking about the health concerns in terms of if I lose a lot of muscle mass and then I gain weight?

Richard Poye:

Yes.

Sherry Frey:

Yes. That’s the biggest concern of the industry right now. And one thing that’s fascinating is when you think about getting a prescription from your doctor versus the telehealth and the compounded pharmacies, one thing that’s surrounding the compounded pharmacies is actually this support around making sure people understand what they should be eating, etc. where you’re not necessarily seeing that with the prescriptions. And that’s where we’re seeing more retailers, in particular grocery retailers, who are leaning in to say, “Hey, how can we support them on this whole journey as you get the prescription.” You don’t necessarily know all the things that you’re supposed to do or how important that protein is until in many cases you figure that out on your own.

And we’re watching this. I feel like, as we’ve seen this data change and we’ve seen the consumer change, and even the cycling, I think we’ll see improvement because you just hear and see more of this growth on protein. One of the things that we’re researching in our next round of research is really understanding people’s exercise habits in addition to their changes in their consumption. I think short answer was, though, Richard, I actually think it’s a concern. I think it’s the biggest concern that the medical industry is concerned about.

Richard Poye:

Thank you.

Roy Strasburger:

All right. Thanks, Hal. You’re up.

Hal Adams:

Consumer Behavior Thank you for your comments and they’re very insightful. I have two comments and one is similar to Richard’s, but coming from a different direction, and that is at NACS State of the Industry, there was a similar presentation and the number was one in every six households has at least one person that’s using the drug currently, which I thought was a shockingly high number. And it made me think that there could be two or three other people in those households that are listening to the new habits of the user and transferring those habits to themselves, possibly – eating higher protein, eating less sweets, more hydration. So perhaps the habits are bigger than just the user, and particularly in our trade for quick snacks, quick items. So those of us that are a little longer in the teeth and lived through the Atkins diet craze in our industry, it really did impact our stores with meat snacks, and chicharrónes, and low carbohydrate snacks.

And so perhaps we’re heading toward a time where that may be, again, a focus not only because of the users, but the adjacent family members. That’s number one.

Number two, your comment about the user not necessarily X-ing out indulgences, but having smaller portions and not eating the whole bag of Skittles, but still wanting some Skittles. That could be something that we might see in our industry in terms of snacks, in serving sizes, pack sizes, that someone might not need a king-size bar, but a smaller bar or a share pack. They want a smaller single size. So that’s a watch-out, I think, is that maybe that’s an opportunity as well that we keep an eye on serving size and things.

And then the third idea is this is a big impact on foodservice in c-stores that tends to be high fat, high fried. And if these are items that are not well received by those users, that could be something we need to keep our eye on as well. But thank you for your comments.

Sherry Frey:

I’ll add one thing on the protein. I think you’re right, Hal, the GLP-1s, think of them also as catalyzing other conversations. So protein for instance, we’ve seen such growth in this total universe of products that have over 25 grams of protein per serving, over 35 grams of protein per serving. And that’s not just GLP-1 users. We actually had one of our partners go do some social listening. We were just blown away, but we couldn’t believe these. And it was women, it was women with PCOS (Polycystic ovary syndrome), it was women with hormone issues. That was really where you were seeing this. So I think there’s halo and spread, for sure. The family, but even I think social media has changed too, and the community aspect of the GLP-1s has created more awareness across the board.

James Hunt:

Sherry, I was just going to say the presentation Hal’s referring to was the Numerator presentation that typically skews millennial-younger, versus our research which is more holistic across the spectrum of all cohorts. So that’s the one that he’s talking about. I think you did get a copy of that. That’s just why the numbers won’t match up at all.

Roy Strasburger:

So James, since you’re on, you’re very much involved in the convenience store sector for NIQ. Did you have comments or anything that you wanted to add to Sherry’s presentation or any other context towards that?

James Hunt:

Yes, so thank you. There’s a couple things that actually go back to Richard’s comment, and then also Hal, yours, and Sherry and I, we’ve been discussing this. One, Richard, I think you brought up the behavior that you would see in a grocery store because buying for the whole household versus a convenience store, they’re buying for themselves. Again, depending on who that is. Sherry showed the red dye, that whole graph. So we actually talked a lot about if someone’s buying for the household, their behavior may be different than if they’re just buying for themselves, like going back to the graph that she was showing previously. So I do think there is that for us to just keep in mind, it depends on who the user is and who that cohort is or that persona that’s coming into your store. Because they may not be the user, they may be in a household with the user, but if they’re not using, that may be their indulgence: smaller chocolate or what have you.

To Hal’s point around the foodservice component, we’ve launched that measurement about a year ago in convenience. And that’s one of the things that we’re spending time unpacking with Sherry and her colleagues. It is really understanding what are people’s behaviors towards foodservice, whether it’s pizza or whether it’s sandwiches. Are people leaning one way or the other? We’re actually starting to dive into the numbers. We now have enough data on that to start to understand more.

So we will be sharing that. We’re more than happy to share it with this group as we actually start working through that because that question, that you just had Hal, is huge for us. And we’ll also be working with NACS to try to unpack some of that because some folks, and it’s not a good or a bad, but they’re known for their pizza or they’re known for their more indulgent food versus a sandwich where you can put more turkey breast on it and put a lot of vegetables and it’s a lot more healthy. So we don’t know the impact now, but that question you brought up is something that we’re trying to figure out and we’ll share that with the team.

Roy Strasburger:

Thanks, James. Greg, thank you for your patience. What’s your question?

Greg Parker:

First of all, Sherry, fascinating. Great job. Really, really enjoyed this presentation. Did you say that 40% of America will use a GLP drug? Is that what you said, GLP-1 drug?

Sherry Frey:

No, I think it’s that 44 million projected in the next few years, and 44% of them will be in the U.S. It’s been the one that’s been circulating in the industry pretty consistently, it’s likely, with the caveat that we’re all trying, I’m trying, to understand likely.

Greg Parker:

Well, I still don’t understand that. I know Kevin asked you, he said it’s 12%. What do you think it’s going to, what percentage of America do you think is going to be on a GLP-1?

Sherry Frey:

Frankly, that’s why I showed you that addressable market at the beginning, because if you think about the addressable market for type 2 diabetes, obesity and being overweight, and then if we start adding these other cardiovascular, sleep apnea, research being done around Alzheimer’s, there’s a lot of potential.

Greg Parker:

Okay. I wanted to make a comment too. A lot of people know John Melo, former president of BP North America, and then he was the CEO of Amyris Biotech. He’s working on a new product. In fact, it’s out. He’s worked with the Mars family, and the Mars family is second-wealthiest family in America. If you don’t know the Mars family, the whole Mars story is fascinating, but they’re working on new types of protein that are more easily absorbed. So all proteins are not created equally. And so I think there’s going to be a huge growth and the highly metabolized, I’m probably using the wrong words, but protein products that are more easily digested, metabolized, rather than just passed on throughout the body. But I love this presentation. So Roy, thank you, and Sherry, big kudos. Thanks.

Roy Strasburger:

Our pleasure. Eva?

Eva Strasburger:

<< Health>> I have two questions, Sherry. As Greg says, great presentation. The first question is: you allude to serious side effects, though I don’t think you had them all listed. You hear about stomach paralysis, loss of eyesight – someone on one of our Vision Groups at another time had mentioned they knew people who had got cancer because of being on it. You mentioned that those concerns prevent some people from getting on and using the drugs. It could go either way. If it continue to show serious side effects, it could put more and more people off using GLP-1s, especially if they found something that’s really bad. Or it could be proven that there aren’t serious side effects, or that they’re caused by something else, and more people will start to use GLP-1s that are not using them at the moment. So, my first question is what do you think is going to happen?

And then, secondly, I think I read a report saying they expect GDP to increase by 3% because one of the positive aspects is that people who are sick or obese will now be able to lose weight and reenter the workforce. And that’s going to really help the labor market, which is a positive side. So have you seen any movements there?

Sherry Frey:

On the serious side effects, I’ll be frank with you. We’ve been working on this for two and a half years, and I keep waiting for the shoe to drop. And when that article first came out, and the study came out about blindness, I was like, “Oh, here it is.” And so I do think that we are all watching this and we are all really truly recognizing that even though these drugs have been around for 20 years, having more consumers that are on them will have more potential for finding the side effects. The alopecia, the hair loss, is one where, frankly, anecdotally, I had even asked my hairdresser just jokingly six months ago, like, “Oh yeah, you seeing people losing their hair?” And she said, “Sure, it’s the number one thing every hairdresser is talking about.”

Eva Strasburger:

Protein loss.

Sherry Frey:

Yes, but it is not necessarily GLP-1 driven as much as rapid weight loss driven. And so there’s things that are truly tied to the GLP-1s and then there are things that are auxiliary because of the weight loss. So yes, it is very true that in our data, people are concerned about the side effects.

And your second question around the GDP, it’s very interesting, too, because as we’ve been looking at this, there is absolutely a lot of upside potential for healthier consumers. You’re seeing, also, some positive studies around the GLP-1s and fertility, improvements around things around PCOS. GLPs can present not only reproductive challenges, but also think about the healthcare costs that we have in this country and getting people back to work. Absolutely.

I was talking with someone recently that there’s models that show that we have to get people at the level of a statin adherence and at level of usage, and we will really start to see some impacts to healthcare. I don’t know if that’s the case, but I do think it’s an interesting, positive longer-term element of this.

Eva Strasburger:

Well, I think I agree with people who say this could be the biggest lifestyle disruptor in our lifetime because of the effect it’s having on relationships between people who are choosing to go on GLP-1s. Suddenly marriages are changing when, one, food is their love language and suddenly their partner doesn’t want it or two, they change shape, or three, they’re suddenly young and sexier and have a new wardrobe and different spending habits. Also, there’s the effect on the health system. Someone was saying to us last year, they think this could save the national health system in England because 85% of costs go on old people with cardio diseases and diabetes. And, then again, we’ve met people anecdotally who say they used to love shopping for clothes, and they don’t do that anymore. They just lost that urge to get any kind of stimulus from the shopping experience. So it seems to affect every aspect, not just the appetite. It’s fascinating.

Sherry Frey:

Actually, the group that we’re working with the medical records and looking at the sales data, they’re also working with the casinos, because it’s impacting people’s interest in…

Eva Strasburger:

Gaming.

Sherry Frey:

Yes.

Eva Strasburger:

Thank you.

Roy Strasburger:

Foodservice Excellent. Well, I’m going to ask a couple other questions of some folks in a moment, but I think two of the things that I took away from your presentation, Sherry, among many things, but two with impacts on the c-store industry is, and I believe Hal reemphasized this, is that people are looking for smaller portions for consuming food products. In the convenience industry, foodservice is really important. And I personally believe that foodservice is where the industry has to go to remain competitive in the future. And the better the foodservice is, the better retailers will do. And we have some really good foodservice people on this call today. But as you mentioned, it’s about the types of food that are prepared and it’s about how much people want to consume.

In another Vision Group call, we talked about a future foodservice promotion or marketing program that may be more about promoting things such as sharing plates as opposed to individual meals because of the problem that restaurants have had with people coming in and are only ordering starters. Nobody orders an entree. Or the ones who come in to have lunch basically just sit there and push their food around a little bit and then they don’t make the big purchases, from a whole ticket aspect. So there may be a chance of trying to promote meals as a sharing plate opportunity. But the other thing is that, on the other end of the spectrum, the convenience store industry has been very, very good about promoting king-size everythings.

And so, when you go up to the point of sale or the register, you don’t get the small Snickers bars, you get the king-size Snickers bars. And I think that, from what you have said, we may have a fundamental change in how our category management works for those impulse sales of items that people are actually wanting when they look at it and they say, “That’s going to be too much to have,”, as Hal said, and move to a smaller bag of Skittles, “We’re going to get to the trick or treat size portions.” That may have the higher gross profit margins and the higher gross profit dollars for retailers at the end of the day. So I think those are really interesting comments. Laura, what do you think about all this? How do you think this is going to have an impact or will it have an impact?

Laura Aufleger:

It’s incredibly fascinating. Even just hearing you talk about the importance and the focus on protein. It was funny because I remember, a couple years ago when we put hard-boiled eggs out on the shelf and they couldn’t keep them in stock. And so it’s funny, some of the things that I’m thinking back of specific products that I’m like, “Who would ever buy that?” And then it’s like people go crazy over it. So I think it’s interesting, and I can see that being such a big driver, but I am really curious about the foodservice aspect of what changes we might be looking for and how we may need to adjust our product mix in the kitchen and what that needs to look like. So I am really curious to see and hear more insight into that on what can we be doing on our end to ramp up for that, if you will, to meet people’s needs and desires in that area.

Roy Strasburger:

Sherry and James, do you have any direct thoughts or input on that type of question regarding foodservice?

Sherry Frey:

I would just say, Laura, the one thing that, again, that rotisserie chicken thing we found super fascinating. So it’s not that they’re not looking for a meal and prepared foods, but I do think the fat and…you know what I mean? If you had your teams just go listen, go look at some Reddit conversations, you’ll see it really does impact them. They’ll have issues. From a protein standpoint, again, they’re just trying to get as much protein as they can every day. But in particular, the protein is also helping them if they take it two days before the injection and after, it helps with the side effects too. So I think all things protein, and it really may be innovative new things that we haven’t done before. Meat skewers, truly thinking about just things that we haven’t historically seen.

Roy Strasburger:

Okay. James? Any comments?

James Hunt:

I was going to say, I think Sherry’s touched on it, which is maxing out the protein and then minimizing the fat. And there are things like you said, meat skewers — it’s like kebabs and stuff. And then it’s also, as you said on social media and social listing. As you know, we have this cohort that shops in our convenience stores that are teenagers and people in their twenties who are in college, and it’s like what are they consuming and what are they talking about online? And that’s where the social listing does come in and helps guide how that can influence your food program. And Laura, to your point, the boiled eggs, you’re right, craziest thing, but you can find them in airports now. Pickles in a bag. I was blown away when I first saw that years ago. And again, they’re ubiquitous, right? They’re just everywhere.

Or even cheese and meat snacks that are combined together in little lunch kits that you would think of Lunchables back in the ’90s, they’re now everywhere. So it’s those types of things. I know that that’s a packaged food example, but as you’re thinking about “how do I add more protein and make a little bit healthier mix to foodservice.” I also think the European example is quite good because, Eva, Roy and Myra, we’ve been together at the NACS events, that Convenience Summit Europe, and we’ve seen on those store tours where it’s more fresh food and commissary based than say more processed food. So that I think will also start to influence, and again, there’s a lot of content that we can also share out around that.

Sherry Frey:

I think one thing, Laura, too, I just was thinking as James was talking, so don’t forget too, in addition to the protein is the fact that they want, they need more fruits and vegetables and they are in our data, we’re seeing so much more of them making smoothies. So frozen fruit, fresh fruit, protein powders, etc. And when Smoothie King first came out with the GLP-1 Six or whatever eight months ago, I was like, “Huh, interesting.” Now I’m like, “Actually, that’s a great idea.” It’s a great idea to think about something that we know that they’re naturally doing and maybe they don’t want to keep making every single day. We do know many are eating protein shakes every day just because they’re trying to meet their numbers. But interesting ways to think about smoothie bars. But I would not forget the fruits and vegetables too. We do know they’re also watching that.

Roy Strasburger:

Excellent. So Richard, I know you’ve got a question, and you’re in the foodservice idea business.

Richard Poye:

I’ve got a comment in there.

Roy Strasburger:

Yes, go for it.

Richard Poye:

Thank you.

When the Atkins diet came out in my Unilever days, the company created a whole line of carb-free products. The brand was called Carb Smart. They took the carbs out of a lot of the products that Unilever was already making, because the consumer insight showed that people didn’t want to change the ritual of their diet habits, so they were able to get things with zero carbs. But they were still going to have a nice salad with dressing, grilled meat with a marinade brushed on, and things like that.

That brand quickly turned into a $100 million business, and it was just because people were able to not change their habit of how they cooked, but then they were able to integrate products into their carb-free meals.

Then I think of looking at how we can call out protein on a food item? As an industry, we call out pricing and calories, but you rarely see proteins being called out. We can take a hint from the beverage companies on how they come out and say 16, 18, 25, 35 grams of protein, and it’s right in the middle of the label. The label calls out protein.

But we don’t do that on our menus and food packaging, so there might be a way to call out the amount of protein or count the grams.

Then there is a thing: the protein levels in many of the high-protein foods, as they get higher, really create a kind of taste and mouthfeel that is not pleasant.

You can communicate pairing a food product that is a high-protein item with a protein beverage that, let’s say, is high protein but probably not the highest. So, you can combine offering a meal and beverage that is enjoyable and allowing somebody to achieve 35 grams of protein in the morning.

And there are many food options for people who are taking these medicines and seeking to be stronger and healthier by eating more protein, particularly, you know, older people.

Everyone needs protein to maintain muscle mass. So, how do you work on doing things like that?

How can you get protein in coffee? Okay, so you might be able to think outside of the food piece. Hey, can we get protein in the coffee? We can get coffee and protein. Then we can get black coffee, which includes the protein option.

There are opportunities where we can do things to offer more protein options. Some retailers have that sausage on the stick, which might look barbaric, but it is a high-protein item that is easy to eat. We’ve seen those types of things before, and they can be reintroduced to the menu.

On the other hand, as a consumer, you may get a higher quality item instead of grabbing more menu items. With clear signage, you can see what is already a high-protein item.

Also, let’s take on the learning from the high-protein jerky category. It is a high-protein product that you are already selling. So that might be something to think about.

Roy Strasburger:

Thank you. Eva.

Eva Strasburger:

The other thing some people have noticed is that people are surprisingly ignorant about nutrition. They don’t quite understand, sometimes, what a protein is or what’s a carb. Retailers can help by having a product classification – the way they do with vegan or vegetarian meals. If you just have a label and it says “GLP-1 friendly”, people will go to that product without having to spend the time to investigate it. Maybe there’s a section or shelf with GLP-1 friendly foods or it’s located beside the foodservice area. Or you can have a symbol that the customer recognizes that means that it is going to be good for you. You don’t actually have to say how much protein it’s got, if you can justify that it is good for you if you’re on that diet and has less fat and higher protein. It’s easier for your customers to make the decision to choose that product over something else because you’re telling them it’s good for them.

Roy Strasburger:

Excellent. Thank you. So Don Rhoads, I know you guys are really close to your business. Have you seen any impact in regards to what’s happening in your stores? Don, I’m going to start with you, then Donnie, you get to follow up.

Don Rhoads:

Strategy Sure. A fascinating conversation and I’ve taken a lot of notes. Yes, we have. I think this is part of a larger movement when we look at Better For You products in our segment. And we see it now in package bev with Poppi and Olipop probiotic low calorie sodas. I’m wondering aloud whether or not this is actually an opportunity for our industry to really work our hot foods through SNAP, talking about rotisserie chicken, prepared hot meals, protein centric. But yes, we are seeing it. 30% of our top line sales are beer and wine and the high calorie craft category is down. And if you look at the low-calorie products that we’re selling skews up. And so this is a trend that’s happening I think beyond the GLP-1 topic and it’s something that we need to keep an eye on.

Roy Strasburger:

Donnie, do you have any comments?

Donnie Rhoads:

I’d echo everything that my father just said. Also, hi, everybody. I was a little late. What I did get to hear from Sherry was fantastic, really good info. Yes, I agree. I don’t know how much visibility I have on specifically what GLP-1 is doing in our stores, but the broader conversation about Better For You products, lower calorie products, like my dad said, light beer, we definitely see that. Even things like non-alcoholic beer. As our customers are getting a little bit younger, demographics are changing and their habits are changing, too.

One thing I was kind of thinking about, and Eva, you touched on this a little bit kind of when you mentioned what people do when they see the words GLP-1, I’m thinking about how we might go about directly marketing Better For You products in our stores today versus 10 years from now. Are we just going to have a sign that says high protein? Are we going to have an end cap that says Better For You? Are we going to straight up say, hey, here’s GLP-1 friendly snacks, and is that going to drive more sales? I’m certainly sitting back and trying to absorb as much information as I can right now, but yes, I totally agree, it’s a fascinating topic.

Roy Strasburger:

Thanks, Donnie. Jonathan, what about you and your store group? You seeing any impact or do you have any thoughts about this?

Jonathan Polansky:

I don’t think I’ve seen anything directly. I’m honestly surprised at how big this is getting and potentially may get. So I’m looking at it, I think Eva brought this up at a couple meetings ago, and I tucked it away in the back of my head and I’ve talked about it with my group a couple times, but I haven’t really prioritized it. But now I think I’m going to bubble it up again. From my lens, I’m looking at flavor bans in Oregon and potentially having some space behind the back bar. And we were already working on what we were going to do there and where we landed was a kind of a Better For You wellness section. And now after this conversation, it’s super helpful because there are things in there like hair loss or supplements that I think we would’ve made it too narrow. And so now I think we need to really go up a few levels and really consider some product that we wouldn’t have maybe. So thank you for that.

Roy Strasburger:

Excellent. Tracey, what do you think?

Tracey Hughes:

Strategy Foodservice It has been very enlightening to hear about the widespread use of it. I knew it, but I guess I didn’t realize it was so big. Some of the notes that I took were around really sides for our foodservice. So in the QSR industry, I know Lion’s Choice has carrots and celery and Panera has apples and we don’t do anything like that. And that might be something that we need to incorporate into our menuing. Just really thinking about even the note that you said, Roy, about the treat size versus the king-size. I mean is it time to bring back the old change makers that we used to have in terms of that size, that portion. So just a lot of really great ideas that were in the content that stimulated me to think about things differently. I think our category managers are doing that, but I think just having the dialogue and investing an hour at our next meeting to have a round table and brainstorm will be very helpful to us. So thank you for setting that in motion for us.

Roy Strasburger:

Absolutely. Okay, so Chris.

Sherry Frey:

One quick thing. Tracey, I just want to make sure [to clarify]. So it’s not big today. The addressable market is big and the growth has continued and we think it will grow. I have a slide in the deck that’s not NIQ data, but I think it would be very useful for all of you. It’s just prescriptions like GLP-1 prescriptions and then GLP-1 prescriptions for weight loss across the U.S. where you can see heavy markets and light markets. I think that it would help to know “oh, we are in a market that we’ve got a lot of prescriptions or no, we’re in a market that the prescriptions aren’t as high.” Now that doesn’t include the compounds. Because some of you may be thinking you’re feeling this already and some of you might be thinking it’s not really impacting. And again, it is a smaller segment today of consumers, it’s just growing.

Tracey Hughes:

Great, thank you.

Roy Strasburger:

That’ll be great for the additional information. And so Joris and Chris, you’ve seen the inevitable aspect of this is all coming towards you. So now is your turn to contribute and to say something. So Joris, what are your thoughts? What is Shell doing or has Shell given this any thought in the way that it’s trying to approach retail?

Joris Van Brussel:

Yes. So I’m in Texas and in New Mexico because I’m running the company-owned stores, so I don’t necessarily have a national view. My hunch at the moment is that the usage of these drugs is still underrepresented in our customer audience where we cater towards more blue collar, less health conscious consumer because we’re selling a lot of beer and cigarettes, right? But as this starts moving down and becoming cheaper, it’s for sure going to be a trend to watch.

Now we are already investing very heavily in foodservice. We’re basing the current offer on the customer we have, not the customer that we want, but we are really targeting the customer that we want. And that customer is more a female, is more like a family, is more already buying our gas but not yet coming into our store. So it’s going to become more relevant. But at the moment, we are establishing our foundation in foodservice more targeted towards a customer audience where this is underrepresented, we are seeing a contraction, right? So we are seeing a market decline in some of the markets where we’re operating. So then the question is: is that because of this or because of sort of other circumstances? But it’s definitely an important trend to watch.

Roy Strasburger:

Thank you. And I think you make a really good point. When you’re talking about your customer – or the typical convenience store customer demographic – it skews towards what Sherry was saying that, as these medications are approved for treating diseases specifically such as diabetes, and if they start being covered by Medicare or start being covered by the insurance companies, and they become more popular as people learn about them, that may have, if you pardon the pun, an out-sized impact on our customer base because a lot of our customers are having issues with those diseases. So the popularity of GLP-1s could really have a significant impact on our business as they become more widespread. I think that’s a really interesting point.

Joris Van Brussel:

And maybe what I can offer as well is a more international perspective because I worked in lots of different markets outside of the U.S, right? And obviously it’s always phenomenal to see the role that our sector plays in this country. I mean it is the Olympic Games of gas station management, but I think in places like Europe, where I’ve worked, it is already more customary for customers to come and expect a healthy offer in the convenience store. And I think that’s an opportunity that we’ve got as a channel to be more considered for food.

Certainly, that’s a general trend and it also gives economic resilience and what have you. But I’ve also really seen, let’s say a customer that’s maybe not so much shopping in the convenience channel in the U.S. today on average, really come into our channel as our food offer progresses. And then maybe it starts with fried chicken, but then also those venturing into sushi and barista coffee and entering more into the customer segment that today I don’t really see in our stores in Texas and New Mexico for food. But I have really seen that perhaps in other parts of the U.S. and definitely in Europe. So we are moving beyond the traditional audience, yes?

Roy Strasburger:

Right. Yep.

Roy Strasburger:

Greg, if you don’t mind hanging on for just a second. Chris, let’s give you a chance to chime in to see what your thoughts are on this.

Chris Stevenson:

Strategy Thanks, Roy. So I am a category manager here at OnCue. I handle tobacco in the center store. So pretty interesting to hear today. I was aware of the GLP-1 conversation, but not to the level of what we spoke about today. I think in OnCue, we have focused more on, maybe not by choice, but it kind of forced – maybe from this conversation. Most of our stores have a 12-foot cookie/cracker nutritional protein section and we’ll do monthly reviews and we can see that we’re gearing more towards protein, high protein, less Pop-Tart type items, less cookies. So we’re seeing that, too. And then to Kevin’s point he made earlier, I am really curious how the manufacturers will adjust to this. It’s obvious it’s not just a trend. So yes, we’re seeing it all that we spoke about today. The regular-sized candy bars, they’re out trending or outperforming the king-size and the share size. So we’re kind of seeing it on a low level here and I’d be curious to see where it goes in the next couple years, I guess.

Roy Strasburger:

It will be over the next few years I think. I think you’re exactly right about that. Sherry, you want to give us a quick view of your slide?

Sherry Frey:

[Slide Unavailable – GLP-1 Use for Obesity by State] So this is not NIQ data. And there’s quite a variety of sources that you could look at. IQVIA tracks this as well. But I think this is just something to kind of be looking at in terms of where are the people. This is total GLP-1s and this is obesity with GLP-1s. And so again, you can kind of see concentrations in certain markets and even in certain kinds of specific, very specific cities, rural areas, etc. So I will share this with you when I send the deck out. But I would just highly recommend that as you’re thinking about your market and the impact, having your teams track as many sources as you can get of compounded data. If the compounding pharmacies are able to continue as well as prescriptions because that’ll really kind of give you an indication of how many consumers in your market are being impacted.

Roy Strasburger:

Fascinating slide. That’s really interesting. All right.

Sherry Frey:

Great. Thanks, Roy. The fascinating one is the only one that’s not mine.

Roy Strasburger:

But you found it. You found it. That’s the key. That’s the key.

Joris Van Brussel:

See, I was right about Texas.

Roy Strasburger:

Yes, really. You were. Mr. Parker, we’re going to let you finish us up today on the roundtable. So what’s on your mind?

Greg Parker:

I changed my mind about what I was going to introduce…but I would say the two things that I found so compelling are that California’s considering banning ultra processed foods. And I think certainly, there’s going to be a change in what the Food and Drug Administration does under the Kennedy administration. But like most things, when government made changes like that, we as an industry tend to be very nimble and we look for other opportunities. And I think there’s going to be huge opportunity for the retailers who are prepared and are being innovative, to differentiate themselves from other people in the industry and to take advantage of what these new opportunities are going to be. But again, thank you for putting this together, Sherry. Big fan of your presentation. This has been fascinating, so thank you.

Roy Strasburger:

Thank you. Thank you, Greg. And Sherry, James, any closing comments that you’d like to make as we get ready to wrap things up?

Sherry Frey:

I would just say we’re always watching this data, too. So if there are just things where you are thinking like hey, what’s going on here or there, reach out. And James, we’re here. Because sometimes we’ve got some hypotheses of what’s happening. And like I said, this keeps changing, the consumer keeps changing, etc. So I would just recommend that you’ve got your teams kind of consistently watching this, especially if you’re in a market that’s pretty heavy in terms of the prescriptions.

Roy Strasburger:

Thank you. James, any closing comments?

James Hunt:

No, Sherry’s covered it off. And again, if you do need anything, we’re here and happy to help out or answer the questions. And the other piece too, the other side of the coin we did talk about but didn’t go as deep as what Sherry’s talking about here, she’s also presenting to all the manufacturers. So a lot of those are clients like you brought up. So we didn’t address that here, but I know the conversation, Sherry, like the manufacturer advisory board was the last two days. And so it’s the big CPGs that are there and they’re hearing the same thing and asking the same thing. So again, feel free to reach out to us, but it is both sides of the table, the retailers and the manufacturers on this.

Roy Strasburger:

Thank you. And I know that GLP-1s and the related drugs are going to continue to be a major topic over the years to come, especially as it affects retail, as it affects foodservice and specifically as it affects the convenience industry since we tend to address the immediate consumable needs of people. So between us and the QSRs, everything that we sell are immediate consumables and we need to be able to meet the demands of our customers. I know that the Vision Group Network is going to continue to be touching on this subject over the next few years and we certainly will make our information available to everybody.

The main thing that I took away from the conversation today was that the expectations of our customer base are going to change and we need to be able to meet those expectations. How we meet them may still be a little bit up in the air, but it’s going to be a question of portions, it’s going to be a question of content, it’s going to be a question of availability that we provide our consumers.

And as Greg, I think, very accurately put it, that as retailers, we can be very nimble. And I think that having conversations like this and providing the perspectives of a lot of different people will help us all be more nimble players and certainly will help other retailers as we promote this to the rest of the industry. I want to specifically thank Sherry and James for your presentations and your comments and I hope that being in a roundtable discussion with these esteemed retailers provided you really good feedback and responses to help you pass on to others. So thank you very much.

I want to give a specific shout out to our Ally Supporter for this group, which is Verifone, James Hervey, who is our member but was not able to join us today. But thank you to Verifone for being one of our Ally Supporters and helping support the Vision Reports that we put out. And in closing, I’ll see if my fellow co-founders have any comments. Eva, is there anything that you would like to comment on?

Eva Strasburger:

It was a great session today. Thank you very much. As Roy says we’ll be hearing much more about this subject. Our new Global Convenience Vision Group is also focused on this from the global point of view, so that’s going to be interesting to see what their statistics are. But I did want to mention that Roy, Myra, and I are working with our Vision Group Network team on putting together a summit for all our groups, which will be virtual in the third week of November.

And we’re going to have a presenter, potentially a futurist, talk there for about 20 minutes or so. And then we’re going to have each of our seven groups elect a spokesperson to give a summary of what the highlights are that you have learned from being in the group since each group began. And that should be really interesting because we have over 120 members at the moment and it will be a fascinating three hours. And we’ll have a panel at the end where people will be able to submit questions online to be addressed to the panel. It’s also a good opportunity for you to see who our other members are and potentially be able to reach out to them if you have questions that you’d like directly answered by them. So I was going to say we’re very excited about that and look forward to sending you more information on it soon. Myra?

Roy Strasburger:

Myra, close us out.

Myra Kressner:

Sure. Thank you. Thank you, everyone. Just a little more new news that we can share. We’re excited that we are now going to make our Vision Reports accessible so that you can actually be able to use keyword search. We are using the AI component so that we will be providing a link to our In The Room transcript so that if at any time you do want to be able to search by Sherry or Greg or Roy or Don or anyone’s comments, you’ll be able to search by individual as well as by keyword search. So if you want to search protein or foodservice or beverage, etc., you’ll be able to do that.

Right now, we’ll actually be starting that with our next report from the Connexus Vision Group, which will be out mid-May. But this Vision Report will have that accessibility as well. And eventually, I don’t know if the rest of my teammates might shoot me for this, but we will be able to go back to our prior reports to make that available as well. But this will be a feature that we’re really pleased to be offering from this time on. So we think that we’ll make the ease of use much more user-friendly and again, make this available, as we’ve said all along for our Vision Reports, and more accessible in a more user-friendly way to everyone in the industry.

Eva Strasburger:

And a shorter period of time. We hope to have our reports out in three to four weeks versus five to six as we speed up the processes.

Roy Strasburger:

Thank you, everyone, for your participation today and for helping the Vision Group Network live up to its motto of sharing today to shape tomorrow. We’re here to try to share information with the entire industry to make the industry better and you have a big part of that. So thank you very much. I hope that you have a great rest of your Thursday evening. And we will be sure to send out a copy of the Vision Report to everybody. Once again, thank you to Sherry and James from NielsenIQ. Outstanding work, great information. And we will see everybody next time. Please let us know if you have any questions, comments. Anything we can do better, we’d love to know. So thank you, everyone.

Eva Strasburger:

Thank you.